There are various human disease and anatomical abnormalities that require vessel or body members to be controllably reduced in diameter. For example, an enlarged sino-tubular junction of the aorta may cause aortic valve insufficiency; similarly, a dilation of the ascending, transverse or descending aorta may lead to aortic aneurism. “Banding” of the pulmonary artery may be necessary in some pediatric congenital heart disease patients, and banding of the esophagus may be useful in the treatment of gastro-esophageal reflux disease. Moreover, banding the stomach may be used as one form of treating morbid obesity. Banding in this manner can be highly invasive, however, because the body part must be exposed for a physician to implant a band or ring around the effected body part.
The embodiments described herein are intended to overcome one or more of the problems discussed above.